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On the Langrangian nature of the turbulence energy cascade


Charles Meneveau
Department of Mechanical Eng. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD 21218

Thomas S. Lund
Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University, Stanford CA 94305-3030

ABSTRACT: The spatial and temporal evolution of turbulence kinetic energy at different scales is studied using direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence. To explicitly follow the energy during the cascade process in physical space, a Lagrangian correlation coefficient between local kinetic energy at different scales is computed. This correlation is found to peak only after a Lagrangian time-delay that is an increasing function of the scale separation. It is shown that a characteristic length reduction of a factor of two is achieved approximately after the local eddy-turnover time scale. The results show that the view of spatially localized eddy structures transferring their kinetic energy to smaller scales appears to be, on average, quite realistic.

Phys. Fluids 8 (1994), p. 2820

full pdf article

(©AIP, see http://ojps.aip.org/phf).

Reused with permission from Charles Meneveau, Physics of Fluids, 6, 2820 (1994). Copyright 1994, American Institute of Physics.

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Charles Meneveau, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21218, USA, Phone: 1-410-516-7802, Fax: 1-(410) 516-7254, email: meneveau@jhu.edu

 
Last update: 05/11/2007